Walk the 'Cinque Terre' in Italy

Looking for true beauty in Italy? Take a walk along the Cinque Terre (means 5 towns in Italian). It is a 9km walk that stretches along Italy’s coast. Some parts of that walk are out in the open, where as others are covered through trees. The whole walk is on the side of a cliff overlooking the sea – BEAUTIFUL!

The 5 towns: Riomaggiore → Manarola → Corniglia → Vernazza → Monterosso al Mare

You can start at either end of the towns. We began in Riomaggiore where our trek started down “Via dell’ Amore” or Lover’s Lane. Here, along the coast, many couples travel from all over the world and lock a padlock to the railing to signify that they will be ‘together forever’. It is a very romantic walk and fascinating to see how long ago some locks were placed there.

Next town was Manarola. All of the towns are soo colorful and are directly on the coast surrounded by vineyards. This was a cute, smaller town.

On to Corniglia- Nice, colorful little town build along the lower edge’s of the cliffs. Here there are more boats and there is one particular cove near the end of the town where if you sit and wait, usually a group of local teens will brave the extremely rough water to ‘play’ in. It’s scary to watch them – the water looks too dangerous to swim in and it’s amazing to see each of their heads pop out of the water after a wave crashes on them. Luckily they all made it out in one piece!

Vernazza – to get to this town is the toughest part of the walk, however, it is also the most rewarding as well. The view from above is beautiful. There is a massive chuck of rock sticking out from the cliff into the sea – & that is where the town is built. I swear if there was a storm large enough, it would sweep this town away in a second – So check it out while it’s still standing! Haha jk – I’m sure it will last forever and ever (Let’s hope!)
This is the most colorful town yet! Lots of colored umbrellas all over and just a great vibe all around. Spend some extra time here if you can – it’s well worth it!

The last 3km stretch will take you to Monterosso al Mare. Here you can finally hang out on the beach and check out some pretty cool restaurants.

If you don’t want to walk the whole way (although highly recommended), you can take a train and stop off at each town. We walked one way and took the train back and it worked out perfectly.

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